Chapters 4 & 5
GH 2025.04 Controlled Chaos Flying over the Atlantic Ocean, Destiny Collins is actually having a
great time. Rick makes it seem so natural to be thousands of feet over
an ocean. It's just like Serena had always said it would be. And when he
did a loop, she didn't even feel like throwing up.
Rick looks over at his charming companion. Sure, my world's done a total
one-eighty in the past twenty four hours, I'm going to go and see the
family I should have been raised by, and everything I've been told was a
lie, but hey! That doesn't mean he can't enjoy the trip!
Suddenly, Destiny puts a hand to her stomach and frowns.
''What's the problem, Destiny?'' He asks as her face turns ashen..
''I don't really know.'' She says closing her eyes. ''I think I shouldn't
have ordered the escargot at the airport.'' She jokes. ''You know, I
should really call my sister and let her know I'm coming. Dom can be a
worrywart.'' She pulls out her cell phone. ''It's alright if I use this,
right?'' She asks.
''OH GOD NO!!'' Rick yells. ''Just by having it on the plane you're going
to make us crash into the ocean!! HELP!!'' Then he spoils the effect by
laughing.
''I am so amused.'' Des rolls her eyes and sighs. ''Of all the hangers in
all the world, you had to come flying into mine.'' She punches in the
number and waits as it rings.
Their chorused voices come on the tape. ''Hi! I'm not picking up the
phone right now, so if you're with Publisher's Clearing House, come on
over anyway! Everybody else, ya' know the drill. Leave a message, and
I'll try to remember to call you back.'' Beep. ''Hey Dom! I know you're
there! Pick up you slacker!'' Destiny pauses waiting for her twin to
answer. Nothing. Destiny looks at Rick. ''She's probably working in her
office. She always turns the ringer off when she gets into a problem,
then forgets to turn it back on. ''I know, I'll send her E-mail.''
Rick raises an eyebrow, ''I may just be a dumb pilot, but isn't that hard
to do without a computer?''
Destiny reaches into her bag. ''Just so happens, I am prepared for any
eventuality.'' She holds out her hand for him to see the small hand held
computer. ''Destiny designed this. It doesn't have a lot of memory, so
it's just sort of an organizer. But one of the nicer features is a built
in modem, so she and I are always able to get in touch. My Mom and
sister Serena have one too. . .Dad refuses to use his though, says it
reminds him too much of wearing a beeper when he was a doctor, and he's
too old to be at anyone's beck and call, least of all four pushy broads
like us.''
Rick laughs. ''Sounds like a bright guy!''
''Leave to another guy to side with him.'' Destiny rolls her eyes as she
dials up the home computer and punches in her sister's address.
''TwinTwo@PortNet.com''
''Lemme take a wild guess here,'' Rick interrupts. ''You would be TwinOne?''
''Never let it be said you don't have a grasp of the obvious.'' Destiny
teases, then types a short message. ''Hey Dom! I'm arriving in PC about
three hours before the party. Will go directly to the lighthouse from
the airport. Love, Me.'' She bites her lip, then adds, ''Are you o.k? I've
got a funny feeling. . . maybe it's just the airport coffee. . . if
you're on, just give me a note and let me know you're o.k?'' She hits
send and begins to feel a little bit better.
Sitting in the firehouse, Dominique Collins balances a plate with a
sandwich on top of a glass of milk. ''Come on Destiny! Call, write, do
something. If you don't show Mom is gonna have both our heads.'' She
shoots a glare at the picture of her sister next to her computer.
Logging on takes a bite of her lunch.
''You've got mail!'' It chirps.
''Not bad, Des.'' Dom munches. Then she scans the list of usual messages
and mass mailings. She doesn't see any from her twin. But one does catch
her attention, ''It's from me? I know I'm strange but I think I'd
remember sending myself something.'' She clicks on it and opens the
message. ''A picture?'' The picture begins to come into focus. ''Holy
s***!'' The picture taken from the outside balcony shows a room done in
all shades of blue. A big sleigh bed sits against one wall, there are
several abstract paintings on the wall . In the bed Dom lays sound
asleep.The covers are flung back
and she is wearing a her favorite nightgown, a Victorian lace
negligee.The caption underneath sends chills throughout her entire body.
''You are not alone.''
Dominique stands up and begins to walk up the stairs that lead from the
office to the third floor of the Firehouse where the three bedrooms and
two baths are. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up as the
temperature suddenly drops, the air conditioner turns on full blast. Dom
slowly opens the door to her bedroom. Not seeing anyone inside, she
begins to search the room for the camera that took the photo. Her hands
run over the top of the molding, not finding any wires, she begins to
feel a rising sense of panic. Someone was inside her room. Standing
right over her, close enough to take a picture. Suddenly she felt sick.
Then she really began to notice the temperature.
''What is going on here?'' She briskly walks down the hall to the control
panel for the computer console that regulates all of the house's
computer functions. She presses the auto-check button so that the system
will check itself and adjust itself by the programmed specifications. It
does nothing. Then a message flashes on the screen. ''Feelin' chilly?''
''I've got to get out of here.'' She races down the spiral steps to the
main level, grabs her keys and tries the knob on the front door. It
won't budge. Desperately she keys in her code, only to get a flashing
''Error'' message. ''Damn! This isn't funny!'' She exclaims, heading for the
backdoor but already anticipating what she would find. ''Locked.''
Next she picks up the phone. A deep voice taunts her with maniacal
laughter.
''Okay, this is enough!'' Dom stalks to the dining room table and turns on
her laptop. . .''Failsafe, don't fail me now!'' She punches in code after
code after code, after code. Her brow furrows in concentration. Finally
after fifteen minutes, she looks up, her fingers going numb from the
extreme
cold. ''That ought to do it.''
At first it's quiet. Just the hint of a noise. . .growing louder and
louder till she can't ignore it anymore or pretend it's a figment of her
imagination. It's the theme music from ''Jaws'', an old horror flick her
mom loved. The music swells and swells until it begins to hurt her ears.
One last code and she hears a soft beep from the front door, she races
to the door and pulls it open. ''There is a God and today she loves me.''
Dom says racing for her car, but then she reconsiders. Her legs carry
her through the streets as fast as possible. Once out on the main street
she begins to breathe a little bit better. And she knows just where to
go. . .
Five minutes later she arrives at her destination. She knocks on the
door. ''Hello? Anyone here? Uncle Mac? Aunt Felicia?''
''Dom? Honey? Come on in!'' Comes a deep Australian voice. A silver haired
Mac Scorpio rises from his desk and embraces the young woman. Her
clothes are elegant, but not fussy. A buff colored skirt and a lemon
yellow silk shirt. Her long brown hair is coiled thickly at the nape of
her neck. Her only accessories are a gold locket and Medic I.D bracelet.
Mac leads her to the sofa. ''If it's about your Mom's birthday surprise,
don't worry. Felicia's gone on a special mission to get it. She'll be
back in time.'' Mac can see the goosebumps on her arms. ''What is it?''
''Uncle Mac! Someone broke into my house and totally compromised my
security system!''
''What? Were you hurt? Did you call the police? Why didn't your dad call
me when I just talked to him?'' Mac fires off one question after another.
''No. I wasn't hurt, I didn't even know it until just a few minutes ago.
Someone took a picture of me while I was sleeping and sent it to me from
my computer to my computer.''
''Kevin and Lucy will flip.'' Mac says consideringly.
Dom ducks her head. ''Well, actually Uncle Mac.. . . ''
''Dominique Mallory Collins!'' Mac admonishes.
''Come on uncle Mac!'' She protests. ''You know how everyone is about me.
If I told them, Mom, Destiny and Serena would be out shopping for an
ivory tower and Dad. . . Dad would dig the MOAT!! I can't have them
hovering over me for the rest of my life! I just got them all to start
giving me some breathing room. I won't go back.''
Mac sighs acknowledging the validity of her argument. ''But honey. . . .
if you feel like you're in danger.''
Dominique breaks in, ''I've been having some problems at Rubber Ducky,
missing prototypes, that sort of thing. For a while I was hot on this
person's trail. . . . ''
''And you think the two are connected?''
''Yes. But before it was just the prototypes for games. Nothing serious
and nothing I couldn't handle. Normally I wouldn't care too much, but
I've been doing some industrial security software, and I can't afford to
lose any of it. I can't call the police 'cause it will ruin my
reputation. I mean what good is a security expert who can be hacked?
Besides, it's getting too close to home. He hacked into MY security
system and used my own system against me. I won't tolerate it uncle Mac!
Destiny's supposed to come home, what am I supposed to do?''
Mac looks up at the doorway and a huge grin splits his face. ''Have I got the answer for you!''
GH 2025.05 Realizations And Revelations ''There's nothing to do now.'' Laura says numbly. ''Nothing to do but
wait.'' Reading the stunned looks on the faces of her family, she
explains. ''We can't make him accept this, or us. So we have no choice
but to wait for him to come to us.''
''But Mother!'' Lu exclaims. ''We can find him! Now we have a name to put
with him. And I'm sure we can get Mr. Onassis to send us a recent
picture of him.''
Nikolas nods. ''I'll put our investigators on it.''
''I have some contacts as well, let's see what Cassidy and I can come up
with.'' Lucky offers.
''No.'' Stefan's voice carries across the room. ''Lasha's right. An army of
Cassadines hunting him might just drive him further away. I will not
have that.'' At their mutinous glares, Stefan stands firm. ''Richard is
OUR son. This is our decision to make.'' He takes Laura's hand and they
begin to walk from the room. ''Kevin is expecting us to be at Lucy's
birthday party. I trust you will all be in attendance?''
Laura smiles gently at her children. ''Now, we have even MORE reason to
celebrate.''
''But mother. . .'' Lu begins.
''Hush sister.'' Nikolas whispers, seeing such joy and happiness on his
mother's face, a light that hadn't been on for twenty five years when
she had delivered Richard. ''We'll do as you wish.''
''But not indefinitely.'' Lucky adds. ''I'm not going to just let him go.
I'll leave him alone for a week, if he doesn't show up by then I'm going
to start looking for him.'' At the protest on Laura's lips, Lucky raises
his hands. ''I'll keep a low profile, but we can't just let him slip
away.''
Stefan sighs. ''One week Lucky, then we'll do what we must.''
Destiny smiles as she and Rick drive up road leading to the lighthouse.
''This is where your parents live?'' Rick asks taking in the lush woods
and the scenic view of the water.
''Where Dom and I grew up.'' As soon as the rental car stops moving,
Destiny flings open the door and pulls out her bag. ''Well, come on.'' She
prods.
''I've got to find a place to stay first.'' Rick says.
''Try the Port Charles Hotel. In fact. . .,'' She pulls out a set of keys
from her purse. ''My mom keeps a suite there for Jax cosmetics. Nobody
really uses it. I know she wouldn't mind.''
''Oh, I couldn't.'' Rick protests.
''Look, if you knew my mom, you'd know she'd give anybody the shirt off
her back. Just till you can find someplace more permanent.'' She coaxes.
Blinded by her dazzling smile, Rick takes the keys. ''Thank you.''
''Anytime.'' Destiny says reaching for her bag. ''Remember, the party
starts at seven if you're interested.'' She begins to walk up the front
steps. She turns and waves as the car drives away. Over the doorway is a
handmade Native American dream catcher. Hanging from it is a pure white
duck feather. Dom had made it for Lucy when Sigmund had died of old age.
Interrupting her reverie, the front door flies open. ''Destiny!'' Two
strong arms wrap around her and lift her slight frame off the ground.
''Daddy!'' Destiny drops her bag and throws both arms round her father's
neck. ''Oh Daddy! I've missed you so much!'' She says, tears forming in
her eyes at his comforting embrace.
Kevin Collins, infamous doctor, acclaimed painter, renown author and
distinguished scholar beams. ''I've missed you too darling!'' His eyes
twinkle with humor, intelligence and unabashed adoration for the
woman-child in his arms. He holds her at arms length. ''Goodness Destiny!
You're too thin!'' He mimics the usual complaint of her mother. He picks
up her bag and escorts her into the brightly decorated lighthouse.
''Hubba-hubba! Dad, I think you've out done yourself this time.'' The room
is decorated with balloons, and flowers, on a long sideboard sit several
silver buckets filled with bottles of chilling champagne. Pink roses
fill every crevice of the room.
Kevin settles himself on the sofa next to her. ''Cutting it a bit close
weren't you kiddo?'' He smiles. ''Come on, tell your dad everything.''
''I had to hitchhike.''
''YOU WHAT!'' Kevin bellows.
''I got bumped off the last flight out of Paris, and this nice guy, Rick
James, offered me a ride.'' Watching the blue vein in her father's
forehead begin to throb, Destiny hurries to explain. ''He is nice, Dad!''
Kevin cups her delicate face in his callused palms, and stares intently
into her eyes. ''Destiny Victoria, I love you. I also respect your
amazing intuition as well as your remarkable intelligence. If you say
that this Mr. James is a nice guy, then I believe you. But you have got
to believe me when when I tell you that you and your sister are the sun
and the moon to your mother and me. You are both the results of the
deepest love two people have ever shared. Losing you is
incomprehensible.'' He kisses her forehead. ''In short, I worry about
you.''
''I'm sorry, Daddy. I just wanted to get home.''
''I know.'' He gives her another squeeze. ''Serena called .. . .''
''Let me guess, Sis is a no show.'' Destiny grumbles.
''Honey, she's busy.''
Destiny shakes her head. ''We all are, daddy, including mom, but Mom is
always there for any of us. I just didn't think it would kill Serena to
be here.''
''I know, but Serena's job pulled her out of town, she's working on a
story in Paraguay.''
''Yeah, sure. So when's the biggest, bestest, birthday bash beginning?''
''Nice use of alliteration.'' Kevin notes wryly. ''A few hours. Enough time
to get a shower, a nap and get dressed.''
''So Dad, it's just me. You know, your favorite daughter, you can tell
me. How old is she?''
Kevin laughs heartily. ''Honey, I love you like a daughter but I'll never
tell. Never!''
Stefan and Laura's bedroom at Wyndemere. Stefan sits patiently watching
Laura get ready for the party. She'd been quiet since they'd come
upstairs. Watching her struggle with the buttons at the back of her
dress, he stands behind her and gently brushes her hands aside. ''We need
not go,
Lasha. No one would understand better than Kevin and Lucy.''
''No. Stefan, don't you see? This is worth celebrating, our son. . . ''
Her voice is choked. ''He's alive and he will come home. I know it, I can
feel it.'' She turns and embraces him. ''I feel like celebrating.'' She
looks at her husband.
Seeing the hope, and sheer joy lighting his beloved's eyes, Stefan too
begins to feel hopeful. He places a tender kiss on her lips. ''Then
tonight we celebrate.''
''Nikolas, would you please not pace?'' Brooke asks gently. ''You're making
me nervous.''
''I will pace where I want in my own home.'' Nikolas replies imperiously.
''Excuse me?'' Brooke pauses in mid stroke of a light blusher over her
cheek. She stops and sets down the brush and walks to where Nikolas
stands, arms folded scowling. ''Nikolas, I love you. PLEASE Don't shut me
out. You're worried about Richard. You're worried about Stefan and
you're worried that your mother worries too much.'' She wraps an arm
around his trim waist.
''I'm sorry.'' Nik whispers, dropping a kiss on her black silky head. ''I
feel helpless. They won't let me go look for him.''
''And you're worried that if you don't he'll disappear again.'' Brooke
states, pulling him even closer.
Nikolas shakes his head. ''I have to focus on what is important. He's
alive. He knows about us. I have to believe my brother will come home.''
''He will Nikolas.'' She smiles up at him lovingly. ''So quit pacing, stop
snarling and let me get dressed.''
Running a hand from her shoulder to her waist seductively, Nikolas
smiles. ''Why, when we can have a more enjoyable time with your current
state of undress.'' His grin is purely wicked.
Brooke laughs throatily and unties the silk tie he'd just knotted.
At the old Spencer homestead, Emily glances at her watch.
''Em! Where are my cufflinks?'' Lucky yells from the upstairs.
''Probably wherever you tossed them.'' Emily replies tapping her foot at
the foot of the stairs. ''I bet we're going to be late.'' She sighs.
Lucky Spencer comes thudding down the stairs. ''Sorry babe. I just can't
find anything tonight.'' Lucky begins to talk a mile a minute. ''Ya' know,
I think we could find Richard without too much ado. Mom and Stefan think
we should leave him alone. I don't think they know what they really
want. I ought to tell Stefan to get stuffed and go find my brother
anyway.What do you think?''
Emily stands in front of him. ''I think you need to take a deep breath.''
She pulls his face down to hers and kisses him passionately, over and
over and over again until his eyes glaze over.
''Not that I want you to think I am complaining, but what brought that
on?'' Lucky asks massaging the back of her neck.
''I know you Lucky Spencer. I have known you forever and this tough guy
routine isn't impressing me. I think Stefan and Laura know what they
want, and it's not a search party. All you have to do is wait one week.
Then you can unleash the hounds.'' She delicately wipes her lipstick off
his mouth.
''Thank you.'' Lucky grins.
''Was I that good?'' Emily teases.
''You are always that good, Em.'' Lucky tells her. ''But I meant for the
advice. I need you for support, and a voice of reason and total
undivided adoration.''
Emily swats his shoulder. ''Total adoration? Lucky Spencer, if you don't
get me to the party on time I'll give you adoration!'' She scolds as they
walk out the door.
